TAYLORSVILLE — If he could, Scott Padgett would have made a trade.
Hindsight for foresight, straight up, in a heartbeat.
Even the NBA's slickest GMs, though, couldn't manage to muster a deal so sweet. So Padgett works simply with what he has, which is the knowledge that one more NBA season like his first two could equal no more.
"Before, it was one of those, 'Well, you've got next year; maybe there's next year,' " said the 6-foot-9-inch forward, one of the Jazz's three 1999 first-round draft selections, along with Minnesota guard Quincy Lewis and Russian forward Andrei Kirilenko. "Now, it's do-or-die."
In an effort to stay alive, Padgett has turned to a regimen to which, frankly, he is rather unaccustomed.
It's a healthy one.
"I started it about two or three weeks after our season. Got on a different diet," said Padgett, who has shed 14 pounds, from 240 to 226, from his listed playing weight of a season ago. "Cutting out a lot of things like I would have liked to eat but don't necessarily need to.
"I'm eating a lot of protein now, cutting out on some of the fat — you know, fried food and things like that. Stuff that tastes good. And just making sure I eat breakfast. . . . That's the big key. I've never been one to eat breakfast. (Now I) eat several times a day, instead of one or two big meals. There's not a big, big mystery as to how to do it. It's just a matter of going out and doing it."
It's not all about food, either.
"I'm working out, basically, from 8-to-3 every day, with a little time to get lunch, and then get back to workout," the former Kentucky star said. "I'm really focusing on trying to be in the best shape that I can be, so that the skills I've had, and showed in college, I can be able to show them out here. I think I need to be in better shape to do that."
Padgett — who along with the Jazz plays his second game Monday night, against Toronto, in the ongoing Rocky Mountain Revue summer league for NBA rookies, youngsters and free agents — is starting to feel the difference already.
Though he was held to 8 points on 2-of-5 shooting and plagued all night by foul trouble in the Jazz's Revue-opening win over Phoenix on Saturday at Salt Lake Community College, Padgett is comfortable playing at the lowest weight he's carried since his freshman season with the Wildcats.
"Definitely lighter on the feet," he said. "You know, I've never had great lateral movement. But I definitely can see the improvement.
"And I think that will keep improving with work the rest of the summer," added Padgett, a strong outside-shooting big man in college who bulked up so he could play power forward at Kentucky. "So, hopefully, wherever I am now, (I'll be) another notch higher come training camp in the fall."
The body alteration has not gone unnoticed.
"He looks like he's in better shape," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "Both he and Quincy (Lewis) look better than they did a year ago."
Padgett, a classic 'tweener caught between NBA positions, is hedging that the leaner look will help him get playing time at small forward, especially since his power-forward opportunities with the Jazz are limited.
"It's like this: As long as Karl Malone is here, there ain't a lot of minutes at the 4," Padgett said. "So you've got to try to get your minutes somewhere where there's a possibility."
Those minutes, he hopes, will be earned as dividends of his offseason.
"It's a big summer for me, and it's an even-bigger regular season," Padgett said. "This year is going to make or break me, so, definitely, there's a whole lot on the line."
In Sunday's Revue games:
TORONTO 95, MEMPHIS 91: Antonio Granger came off the bench with 20 points to pace the Raptors, who also got 13 apiece from Morris Peterson and Mamadou N'diaye. Shane Battier and Stromile Swift had 17 each for the Grizzlies, who rallied from 16 down to tie at 91 before N'diaye's tip put Toronto ahead for good.
CHICAGO 91, DALLAS 89:Tyson Chandler and A.J. Guyton had 17 points each for the Bulls, who also got 14 from John Celestand, 12 from Dalibor Bagaric and 11 from Eddy Curry. Dallas, which was within 1 before Curry hit 1-of-2 free throws with 16.5 seconds remaining, got 18 points from Derek Hood and 17 from Kenny Satterfield.
PORTLAND 86, DENVER 65:Zach Randolph scored 19 points, Erick Barkley 18 and Maurice Carter 17 for Portland, which shot 50.8-percent from the field. James Posey and Brian Evans finished with 13 each for the Nuggets in a game that included double-technicals, lots of jawing and a halftime confrontation between Barkley and Denver's Omar Cook, both of whom played (at different times) for St. John's.
Monday's games
2 p.m. — Memphis vs. Houston
4 p.m. — Dallas vs. Cleveland
6 p.m. — Houston vs. Portland
8 p.m. — Toronto vs. Utah
Tuesday's games
noon — Portland vs. Cleveland (ESPN2)
2 p.m. — Chicago vs. Toronto
4 p.m. — Dallas vs. Phoenix
6 p.m. — Denver vs. Utah (ESPN2)
E-MAIL: tbuckley@desnews.com